Comments on: Missionary Safety http://www.latterdayblog.com/missionary-safety.html Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:58:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Dustin http://www.latterdayblog.com/missionary-safety.html#comment-2561 Dustin Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:59:14 +0000 http://www.latterdayblog.com/missionary-safety.html#comment-2561 Did you look up all that information just to prove me wrong? :D Did you look up all that information just to prove me wrong? :D

]]> By: Jeff http://www.latterdayblog.com/missionary-safety.html#comment-2559 Jeff Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:40:35 +0000 http://www.latterdayblog.com/missionary-safety.html#comment-2559 Unfortunately, according to the “National Center for Health Statistics” the death rate for people between 15 and 24 in the USA for 2004 (there most current data) was 30 out of 100,000. So assuming that those 30 are evenly distributed amount each of the 9-year span it covers, then between 15 and 24 your chances of death would be .0033%, or .0066% over two years. So assuming that 50,000 people serve each year (as you supplies) for 7 years one would expect the church to have lost 23.1 missionaries at .0066% of 350,000 (a statically insignificant difference). As you point out 25 missionaries died, so you are unfortunately these Statistics do not seem to support a “you are safer on a mission” idea. However, on the flip side, I think it is important to note that this does not take into account that a large percentage of missionaries live and come from in third world countries. Those death rates are much higher in these countries. Therefore, this best-case scenario (your a missionary that come from and serve in the US) is not really 100% accurate. So the argument can still be made that you are safer on a mission at that age. Unfortunately, according to the “National Center for Health Statistics” the death rate for people between 15 and 24 in the USA for 2004 (there most current data) was 30 out of 100,000. So assuming that those 30 are evenly distributed amount each of the 9-year span it covers, then between 15 and 24 your chances of death would be .0033%, or .0066% over two years.

So assuming that 50,000 people serve each year (as you supplies) for 7 years one would expect the church to have lost 23.1 missionaries at .0066% of 350,000 (a statically insignificant difference). As you point out 25 missionaries died, so you are unfortunately these Statistics do not seem to support a “you are safer on a mission” idea.

However, on the flip side, I think it is important to note that this does not take into account that a large percentage of missionaries live and come from in third world countries. Those death rates are much higher in these countries. Therefore, this best-case scenario (your a missionary that come from and serve in the US) is not really 100% accurate. So the argument can still be made that you are safer on a mission at that age.

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